Bezzia, Kieffer, 1899

Grogan, William L., 2020, A Revision of the Nearctic Predaceous Midges in the Bezzia (Bezzia) pulverea complex (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae), Zootaxa 4877 (3), pp. 429-467 : 431-432

Subgenus Bezzia

Pseudobezzia Malloch, 1915: 351.

Type species: Ceratopogon expolitus Coquillett , by original designation.

Allobezzia Kieffer, 1917: 296 .

Type species: Ceratopogon expolitus Coquillett , by original designation.

Species in the Nearctic Bezzia (B.) pulverea complex are most similar to and likely related to species in the B. (B.) expolita complex. In articles by Wirth (1983), Wirth & Grogan (1983) and Wirth et al. (1984), their “Synoptic Key to Subgenera and Groups of Nearctic Bezzia ” included three species groups in the “Subgenus Bezzia , s. s. ”(sensu stricto), the bivitatta, nobilis and expolita groups. Their “ expolita group” includes all species in the expolita and pulverea complexes. Males in the expolita complex differ from males in the pulverea complex in having slender, elongate to greatly elongate parameres, slender aedeagi and slender gonostyli that usually have pointed tips. Fe-males in the expolita complex differ from females in the pulverea complex by their usually non-banded femora and tibiae, and, their stout ovoid spermathecae are usually unequal-size.

Diagnosis. Males in the B. (B.) pulverea complex are the only Nearctic species of B. ( Bezzia ) with broad to very broad aedeagi and parameres, and, most species have a slender to very short gonostylus with 1–2 apical prongs except for two species, B. amblystyla n. sp. and B. folkertsi n. sp., which have a gonostylus with blunt or rounded apices that lack well developed apical prongs. Females are the only Nearctic species of B. ( Bezzia ) with mediumsize to large, elongate, unequal-size spermathecae (larger 0.13–0.25 mm, smaller 0.08–0.17 mm long), except for B. folkertsi n. sp., which has smaller, subequal-sized spermathecae (larger 0.09 mm, smaller 0.08 mm long).